Ok, getting back to
@Seaweed Doc and
@Eric Sedletzky
I think stress management and panic proofing are ahead of being able to stay perfectly motionless laying flat in the water column, but I suppose it’s all important and all has to be learned simultaneously.
So my courses are taught NB/T start to finish. As my students progressed through the course (past tense as I am inactive right now), I looked constantly at student comfort level. By starting with skin diving/free diving, I introduced a smaller step to scuba with getting students learning to fin (flutter and frog kicks). They also have to learn to equalize and clear their mask. Again, little steps, as this reduces the time significantly students require to get through the different skills. When I resume teaching, I'll add back the set of mask/snorkel skills that is a derivative that Peter Rothschild introduced to me early in my progression to teaching NB/T when he generously assisted in a pool session. He helped me a lot with organization too.
I have this covered in my dive blog and while it has been a while since I wrote it, but also in the 3-part series I published on the SDI blog.
Comfort in the water is absolutely crucial to being able to hover and be relaxed.
I think buoyancy and trim may be the most underrated skill, but I'm skeptical of most important.
1. Safety is a higher priority. That means making sure there aren't any panic issues. Airway control is key. Being able to clear a mask and recover a lost regulator. And so on.
Safety isn't a skill, but a process. As I hope I successfully addressed Eric's comment, this is addressed through a number of means: low ratios, smaller steps, proper weighting, etc..
2. I'd add something that's not an easily taught skill: Situational awareness.
I have a fairly simple approach for SA for open water divers. One of the changes I made in teaching was requiring students to tell their buddy and then me when they reached 2000 psi, 1500 psi, and finally 1000 psi. Randomly asking students just didn't work in general. Assigning this task where they have to inform each other changed everything.
I am changing that a bit for when I resume. The procedure is as follows:
1. Check your buddy
2. Check cylinder pressure
3. Check your depth
4. Check your min gas value
5. Note the direction headed and what is the exit route
I did take Gareth Locke's human factors in diving in the early days (
@Seaweed Doc when Mark was still running 5th Dimension). I strongly encourage students to take his course afterwards. I am hesitant to add too much more material, as the depth of HF is a lot to digest, and too much for most open water students. The exceptions would be people who have photographic memories. They exist, but they are rare. I wish to ensure I do not add so much that student's retention is now less due to that additional information. I'm referring to the theory of interference (
Interference theory - Wikipedia). There has to be the Goldilocks balance. Not too much, not too little, but just right. One of the things I would like to do with willing students is engage some time after their certification and see what they retain. Just a conversation, not a test.
